One more day (or two, weather permitting) until Mets baseball!
One more day (or two, weather permitting) until Mets baseball!
Plus, two players to watch with interest heading into the 2024 season
What’s up with the Mets? 🍎
The Mets were off on Tuesday, a day after returning to New York following the conclusion of Spring Training. They’re off again on Wednesday and open the season on Thursday, weather permitting
Former Met Chasen Bradford was arrested in Nevada on a DUI charge the day after graduating from police academy (New York Post)
Roster Moves 🗞️
Released RHP Phil Bickford
Released INF Luke Voit
INF Zack Short will wear no. 21
Two players I am excited about in 2024… ✍️
Today is the last day with no baseball on the calendar until the All-Star break. It’s been a long winter, quite a strange one at that from a baseball perspective, anyway.
After all, it’s only (literally) as of right now that all of the top free agents are off the board, as Jordan Montgomery reportedly got a skeletal version of the contract he had been seeking in free agency from the Diamondbacks. The Mets of course signed one of the top free agents in JD Martínez last week, there’s was the Shohei Ohtani extravaganza (and now the stuff he’s embroiled in now), plus the Yoshinobu Yamamoto derby the Mets were involved with.
I was speaking with Rich last night about the weirdness of this winter’s free agency. One third of the winter’s spending came from one team, one of the players who signed with that team deferred 97 percent of his salary, the other player - who had never thrown a pitch in this league until last week - saw the bidding for his services go through the roof and in excess of $300 million, and yet a two-time Cy Young Award winner had to wait until mid-March to get a one-year deal with an opt-out. Think about how silly all of that sounds.
Anyway, the season is finally upon us. For the Mets, there are unquestionably issues but there are fewer today than there were a week ago thanks to the arrival of Martínez. They’re not perfect and probably still not great but the front office is at least holding up their end of the bargain when they say they want this club to contend for a playoff spot this season. I admire them letting Martinez’s market come to them rather than trying to create a market for another player who is past his prime. That’s not at all to say Martínez still isn’t an excellent hitter, but the Mets didn’t exactly have a lot of luck in their strategy of overpaying for plus-30 free agents over the last few years.
We will talk more about what we specifically think the Mets will do in tomorrow’s post when we send you our collective expectations and the “Just Mets average expected win total” or whatever we decide to call it. But I will say today I am definitely a little more pumped for the 2024 season than I was a week ago, not so much because the Mets signed Martínez but for what the signing of Martínez tells me. I firmly believed this was a retool-ish season for the Mets from the jump, so I was not at all surprised at their modesty in free agency given the quality of the class and their luxury tax issues. But, while Martínez isn’t a savior by any means, they committed to being more than just satisfied with the process in 2024 and are doing their part to create a better result on the field.
That alone excites me and makes me more interested. I hope that does the same for you.
There are two players I am specifically excited to watch and am rooting for ahead of the season.
First, I am looking forward to seeing how Brett Baty evolves as a player and a professional. It’s time for Baty to figure out what he’s going to be here for the Mets and take that next and necessary step forward towards being a competent major league player. I generally liked what he did this spring, especially towards the end at the plate when he showed pull-side power mixed with using the entire strike zone while shortening up. Yes, it was spring training, not New York but it demonstrated he has the ability to vary his approach given the circumstances so it can translate at the big league level.
The other player I am really excited about is Francisco Álvarez. I love his energy, confidence and swagger out there. He’s a big defensive presence and an important part of the Mets run prevention strategy this season. He’s already proven he has the long-term ability of being a defensive wizard behind the plate. But he also has serious middle-of-the-order and if he can just find a way to make his ebbs and flows a little less volatile in his sophomore season, the Mets will have themselves a gem of a complete player on their hands.
Anyway, one more quiet day (or two, weather permitting) and then it’s game on. Rest up, because it’s all about to get real…
Around The League 🚩
Jordan Montgomery agreed to sign a one-year, $25 million deal with the Diamondbacks. The deal has a vesting option for a second year which can be worth another $25 million (ESPN)
Yankee OF Oscar González suffered a right orbital fracture after he was hit in the face by a ball he fouled off in an exhibition game in Mexico
The Dodgers traded LHP TJ McFarland to the A’s for cash
After signing with the Braves on Monday following his release from the White Sox, long-time veteran Jesse Chávez was officially added to the roster on Tuesday